Ishida Flexibility Helps Fruit and Nut Success

09/10/2017

An Ishida 14 head multihead weigher is providing the flexibility to handle a wide variety of dried fruits and nuts at many different target weights for a leading Russian snack food provider supplier FoodArt.

FoodArt, established in 2013, is an importer of products such as almonds, cashew nuts, peanuts, dates, prunes, raisins and cranberries, sourced from across the world and supplied to both retailers, under its own brand as well as supermarket private labels, and foodservice outlets.

With such a diverse product range, the company required a weigher that had the versatility to handle the many different product types, including sticky dried fruit such as dates and dried apricots, at a large number of weights.

The Ishida weigher is currently packing 30 different product variations into bag sizes from 50g to 1kg. Embossed contact parts help to ensure a smooth flow of product, particularly the stickier items, throughout the weigher. FoodArt reports that the accuracy of the machine means that giveaway is practicality zero across all the target weights.

“We are delighted with the performance of the Ishida,” comments Pavel Sorokin, Chief engineer at FoodArt. “Many of these products are expensive so minimising giveaway is absolutely vital to ensure we derive the maximum value from our operations.”

With up to 20 product changeovers each shift, the ease of operation of the weigher – with different pack specifications called up at the touch of a button on the machine’s Remote Control Unit – is a particular benefit. As a result, only three people are required to work on the line at any one time.

Speeds are up to 40 bags per minute, depending on pack size, which is well within the Ishida weigher’s capabilities. Indeed, FoodArt has plans to further increase production and therefore packing speeds – up to 100 bags per minute – in the near future.

This flexibility and ease of operation of the weigher also enable the company to be highly responsive to customer orders, continues Pavel Sorokin.

“It means operators can react very quickly if we get an urgent order from one of our supermarket customers,” he explains.

Depending on orders, the Ishida multihead weigher operates one or two 12 hour shifts each day. Cleaning between each changeover is simple and quick to carry out, and FoodArt reports that reliability has been excellent, with no major issues since the weigher was installed.

“Ishida is world-renowned for its snacks packing solutions and this has enabled us to install a modern and automated line, with no manual work required, which has helped to deliver high productivity and ensure the quality of our packed products,” concludes Pavel Sorokin.

It is little surprise therefore that FoodArt anticipates further investment with Ishida in the future as its business continues to grow.